Criminal Procedure, Fall 2022

Professor Lerner

EXAM STUDY QUESTIONS

We’ll discuss the answers in class on Thursday, December 1.

Choose the best answer, using current Supreme Court case law. There is no penalty for
guessing. Do not assume any information (for example, that Miranda warnings were
given).

(1) Suspect has a private trash removal service that picks up his trash on the
pavement in front of his house once each week. Police officers come by early one
morning, pick up Suspect’s trash before the trash service arrives, and inspect it after they
have picked it up. They discover evidence of drug trafficking. When Suspect is
prosecuted, he moves to suppress the trash evidence. Which of the following is correct?

(a) The evidence will not be suppressed if the police had permission from the
trash service to pick up the trash.

(b) The evidence will be suppressed because the police had no warrant.

(c) The evidence will be suppressed because Suspect provided his trash to the
private service, not the police.

(d) The evidence will not be suppressed because Suspect had no reasonable
expectation of privacy in the trash.

(2) The police obtain a search warrant based upon probable cause to search
Defendant’s house. Defendant lives at 2020 19th Street, as the affidavit states. The
magistrate writes 1919 20th Street on the warrant and hands it to the police. With the
warrant in hand, the police go to Defendant’s house at 2020 19th Street and search it.
They find illegal firearms and charge Defendant with distribution and possession of those
firearms. Defendant moves to suppress the firearms on the ground that the warrant was
invalid. Which of the following is correct?

(a) The firearms will not be suppressed despite the erroneous address in the
warrant.

(b) The firearms will be suppressed because the police had no warrant authorizing
an entry into 2020 19th Street.

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 (c) The search was based upon independent evidence and therefore the firearms
will not be suppressed.

(d) The firearms will be suppressed because the warrant was insufficiently
particular in describing the place to be searched.

(3) Suspect is arrested for drug trafficking and given Miranda warnings
immediately after the arrest. When she says that she wants counsel, the police officer
who gave her the warnings tells her that he is going to continue asking questions despite
her request for counsel. She confesses and later moves to suppress her confession.
Which of the following is correct?

(a) Her confession violates Miranda flagrantly and cannot be used in any part of
the case.

(b) Her confession violates the Sixth Amendment right to counsel, and it cannot
be used in any part of the case.

(c) Her confession is voluntary and admissible.

(d) Her confession violates Miranda and cannot be used in the government’s case
in chief.

(4) Defendant is arrested lawfully for driving without a valid license. The police
take his car to the police station and place it in a police parking lot. 48 hours later they
do a standard, routine inventory search of the car and find counterfeit money. Defendant
is charged with possession of counterfeit money and moves to suppress the money.
Which of the following is correct?

(a) The search is a permissible inventory search, and the money will not be
suppressed.

(b) The search is permissible only if the police had probable cause to believe that
the car contained evidence.

(c) The search is illegal because it was conducted too long after the arrest.

(d) The search is illegal because no evidence of driving without a valid license
could have been expected to have been found in the car.

(5) Two police officers on traffic patrol spot Driver driving over the speed limit
and changing lanes without signaling. The officers pull over the car, and during the stop
get Driver’s license. They check the license in an online database, which shows that

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there is an outstanding arrest warrant for Driver, issued one week ago, for possession
with intent to distribute methamphetamines. They order Driver out of the car and
handcuff him, then one of the officers searches the passenger compartment of Driver’s
car and finds a firearm. Driver is charged with illegal possession of the gun. Driver
moves to suppress the gun on the ground that his Fourth Amendment rights were
violated. Which of the following is correct?

(a) The gun must be suppressed because the police lacked reasonable suspicion to
check the database.

(b) The gun must be suppressed because the police lacked probable cause to
search the car.

(c) The gun will be admitted because the police did nothing wrong.

(d) The gun must be suppressed because Driver could not plausibly reach the gun
at the time of the search.